On Mar 4, 2:19 pm,
On Mar 4, 7:28 am, wrote:
...

How about this- the skills that are rewarded in racing have a pretty
high correlation to the skills which make cruising safer and less
worrisome...

" wrote:
If you were to add "while underway" somewhere in there I'd be
content.


At anchor you should be aware of windshifts & gusts, and especially
aware of upcoming changes in weather, nyet? How about tidal
currents.... the judging of which is definitely a useful racing skill
unless the particular race is on a lake
I always use a transit to judge position on starting line, and it's
the quickest & most accurate way to tell if the anchor is dragging.
Etc etc etc.


Mostly coastal sailing, mostly on the US East Coast although I've
sailed a lot of other places, and have done enough passagemaking to
know what it's like. Most recently my wife and I completed a Great
Loop cruise around the eastern US & Canada, and even on a tugboat the
skills I'm talking about contribute greatly to a smooth & safe cruise.

Neat. I think I use my racing skills most when we are trying to get
someplace say 50-70 miles away in the daylight (generally short
tropical days) and less on longer passages. At anchor not at all.

Oh, I bet you use them more than you think (see above).
The difference is, in a race there is quick and sure feedback on how
accurate your judgements are, strong motivation, and teachers at the
ready. In cruising, it is difficult to learn for many reasons and
there is sort of a pass/fail threshold with no real reward other than
continued peace & relaxation.

I think this is one reason why sailing is a less popular sport in the
US, it takes too much "paying attention." People would rather play
video games.



I'm guessing that US East Coast sailing involves a larger percent of
the day hopping stuff and less of the "how many weeks have we been out
here?" stuff. I wouldn't be surprised to find that played a big part
in our philosophical differences. I also have this feeling that I'm
missing some important part of your thesis. Sorry about that.


Sorry to have not explained things better sooner. Plus I don't have
much internet time these days and have made more errors than usual...
due to hurrying, maybe

I'd be interested to know what kind of boats you raced, and what
position in the crew you held. For my own part, I've done a little of
everything but generally prefer to drive.

Yes, I can play most positions competently, too. I grew up racing the
family boats which were one designs and the usual youth stuff. I
moved on to fairly serious 470 and J-24 racing and also crewed on the
big boats. I've done some name brand ocean races and lots of PHRF
stuff. I have a "good" collection of horrible silver-plate, tatty
flags and miscellaneous trophy things...


Sounds like a lot of fun. I raced 470s a long time ago, got in some
very fun races with some of the big names... I noticed Dave Ullman is
kicking butt in Melges 24s these days.

DSK